Wanted: More foster homes for Michigan kids

Michigan licensed 2,800 foster homes last year, down from 4,000 in 2023
The state has expanded policies to speed licensing and recruit foster families, and is hosting orientations to recruit new foster parents
Shortages remain, especially for homes meeting children’s diverse and specialized needs

Michigan is facing a growing shortage of foster homes even as it steps up efforts to recruit more families, hosting orientations and streamlining policies to make it easier for caregivers to open their homes.

There are about 10,000 children currently in foster care in Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. But as of September 2025, there are about 2,800 licensed foster homes, down from roughly 3,700 the previous year and around 4,000 in 2023.

Even after the state expanded the legal definition of relative to include relatives not related by birth and made it easier for relatives and kin to become licensed foster parents, 20% of the foster homes that closed were individuals fostering their own relatives. The other 80% were caring for children who were not related to them.

According to the most recent report from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the most common reasons for foster home closures are caregiver burnout, families choosing to focus on their own needs and caregivers adopting the children placed with them.

“Unfortunately, when kids cannot be returned safely, they need a loving, caring and forever home, and that’s when you have foster parents that have been in that (position), caring for these children and have stepped forward to really provide them that forever home,” said George Winn, chief strategy officer for the Judson Center, a nonprofit in southeast Michigan that provides support to children, adults and families involved in the foster care system.

“As they adopt kids, that means they don’t have the available space in their home to take on additional kids,” he said.

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In recent years, the state has expanded outreach campaigns, hosted foster care orientations and increased funding for foster parents. Caregivers currently receive about $670 a month for children under 12, $800 for children 13 or older and $825 for young adults living independently but still receiving foster care assistance.

Winn said last year’s fatal shooting of a foster family in Washtenaw County, in which Shuvonne Vinson, Gregory Callhan and Keith Finley were charged with killing Jennifer Bernhard and Stevie Smith while trying to take back Vinson’s daughter who was in their care, has made some people more hesitant to become foster parents.

“That’s really rare but all it takes is one of those particular incidents that really send a shockwave throughout the system,” Winn said.

The state health department, which oversees foster care programs, did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Increasing the number of foster homes may not be enough to address the individual needs of children impacted by the foster care system, according to experts, who say there needs to be more diversity in the types of homes open to children with specialized medical needs or religious preferences.

“It can be a little bit more complicated than people realize. When they look at it from the outside, they’re like, ‘Oh, there’s 3,000 kids in foster care that need homes. We need 2500 homes.’ That’s not really how it works,” said Lara Bouse, executive director of Fostering Forward Michigan, a statewide coalition made up of foster, adoptive and kinship caregivers.

To become a foster parent, individuals must attend an orientation hosted by the MDHHS, complete at least 30 hours of training, undergo a background check and pass a home assessment.

The process can take as little as 90 days or up to six months. Individuals can also determine the placement they receive based on their preferences for age, gender, the number of children, etc.

“We’re trying to find people … that have the capacity to either set their own biases aside, understand cultural differences and then be able to provide that specialized care,” Bouse said.

One challenge is figuring out a way to find homes so that a group of six siblings, for example, aren’t being split up, she added.

The state prohibits more than four foster children in a home at one time, but exceptions can be made to ensure that a group of siblings stays together.